Individual social skills training and co-worker training for supported employees with dual sensory impairment. Two case examples.

Two case studies examined the efficacy of two social enhancement procedures--individual social skills training (SST) and co-worker intervention for two employees with dual sensory impairment who were working in competitive employment settings but who were socially isolated from contact with their nondisabled co-workers. A variety of measures, including direct behavioral observations and social validation ratings, examined social interaction and the formation of social networks in the workplace. Results showed that the number and duration of social interactions improved with each of the social enhancement programs. Social validation data and anecdotal reports indicated that the employees with disabilities became more socially competent, interactive, and included in the social network of the workplace. Interestingly, SST followed by co-worker training resulted in greater increases in social responding as compared to co-worker training followed by SST.

Simulated and in situ vocational social skills training for youths with learning disabilities.

Social skills training for youth with learning disabilities in transition from school to work is of substantial importance. To examine the generalization of such training to real employment settings, this study used a multiple-baseline design to investigate the effects of 12 measured behaviors (3 behaviors per student) on four high school seniors. An initial simulated social skills package delivered at school led to generalization in 8 of 12 behaviors. Subsequently, in situ training at the work site produced generalization in 4 of 6 behaviors. This two-phase model appears to be a powerful way to promote generalization of behavioral skills.

A follow-along study of participants in a longitudinal transition program for youths with mild disabilities.

Descriptive data are presented on the employment patterns of youths with mild disabilities who participated in a transition program with an intensive postsecondary component. Data on employment rates, positive and negative job changes, participation in continuing education, and access to benefit packages are reported for 94 youths who participated in the program over a 4-year period. Program participants had favorable outcomes when compared with a national sample, but they stabilized at an entry level of work participation. Their rates of entry into postsecondary education were also greater than the national sample, but advances were nominal.

Factors associated with employment success among youths with learning disabilities.

This follow-up study examines the employment success of young adults with learning and other mild disabilities. The study questioned the employee with disabilities, his or her parents, and the employer on a number of vocationally related items. A four-factor model is advanced to explain job success. The factors include job match and accommodation, social acceptance, work attitude, and special services. Participants in a total of 41 job situations were queried with 38 completed triads (employee with mild disability, employer, family). The method of constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the data. Although an aggregate of the four factors correlated significantly (p less than .01), job match proved to have the most significant (p less than .01) relationship with the outcome variable. The results are interpreted in light of the need to deliver and understand the types of supported employment services for adults with mild disabilities.

A problem-solving approach to social skills training in employment settings with mentally retarded youth.

The present study examined two approaches to teaching social behaviors to 3 developmentally disabled youths in work contexts. In one approach, a problem-solving procedure was learned and transferred to different materials. Conversational probes monitored interactions between disabled employees and their co-workers and customers. A multiple baseline design demonstrated that the training produced generalization and maintenance of the targeted social behaviors to the work settings: A second approach based on a role-playing intervention produced no substantial generalization in the work setting. A social validation questionnaire administered to co-workers supported the efficacy of the problem-solving training procedure. The efficacy of social problem-solving training was discussed in terms of sufficient exemplars, common stimuli, and self-mediations.

Vocational integration for persons with mental handicaps: a cross-cultural perspective.

Descriptive information was presented which related to the vocational integration of persons with mental handicaps in five Western European countries. The investigator based his findings on a five-month visit to Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and West Germany. Observations, interviews, and documents were synthesized to draw conclusions about employment programs. Inferences were made about the development of vocational models in these countries and the United States. Potential variables were identified which influence systems change toward integrated models of work.

Increasing positive social interactions by handicapped individuals during a recreational activity using a multicomponent treatment package.

A multicomponent treatment package increased the rate of positive statements among handicapped youth during a social/leisure activity at a work training setting. The package of role playing, graphic feedback, contingent reinforcement, and self-monitoring was directly replicated across three experiments in producing normative rates of positive verbal statements. There was no evidence of generalization to other stimulus activities. There was limited response generalization to a class of negative verbal statements. The study further examined the critical components of the maintenance package through a withdrawal design. It was found that contingent reinforcement and self-monitoring could maintain substantial rates of positive behaviors. In the third experiment it was further demonstrated that self-monitoring alone could maintain positive statements in three of the four students in the group.

Use of differential reinforcement of other behavior during dyadic instruction to reduce stereotyped behavior of autistic students.

Effects of a differential reinforcement of other behavior procedure (DRO) on the stereotypic responses and task performance of 3 autistic students during dyadic instruction were examined. The procedures effectively reduced the stereotypic behavior of 2 children and substantially increased the task performance of the 2 lowest performing students. The procedure was unique because the time interval employed between potential opportunities for reinforcement for the absence of stereotypy was the natural length of one instructional trial delivered to a peer. Results were discussed in terms of models for intervention within task context and the usefulness of the procedure under natural teaching conditions.

Teaching social language to moderately handicapped students.

Three students with moderate handicaps were taught to initiate and expand on conversational topics. The teaching procedure used stimuli generated from actual conversations with nonhandicapped peers. Generalization was assessed by audiotaping conversations between the handicapped students and their peers in natural school contexts without adult supervision. Results indicated that training generalized to natural contexts. These results were socially validated by undergraduate special education students, who rated tapes of two of the students' conversations during training phases as more socially competent than during baseline. Results are discussed in terms of the evaluation of complex social behavior as multioperant behaviors.

The training and generalization of social interaction skills with autistic youth.

Two experiments were conducted to increase the initiations and duration of social interactions between autistic and nonhandicapped youths. Experiment 1 taught two autistic youths to initiate and elaborate social interactions with three age-appropriate and commonly used leisure objects; a radio, a video game, and gum. The students were first taught to use the objects and subsequently instructed in the related social skills. The youths generalized these social responses to other non-handicapped peers in the same leisure setting. A second experiment trained a third autistic youth to emit similar social leisure skills. The use of the leisure objects and the related social skills were taught at the same time. The autistic youth learned these skills and generalized them to other handicapped peers in the same leisure setting. The importance of teaching generalized social responding in particular subenvironments was emphasized.

Task difficulty and aberrant behavior in severely handicapped students.

The influence of task difficulty on aberrant behavior was investigated with three severely handicapped students. Noticeably higher rates of problem behavior occurred in demand compared to no-demand conditions. In addition, there were higher rates of problem behaviors on difficult versus easy tasks. Both these findings were validated with visual discrimination and perceptual motor tasks. An errorless learning procedure effectively minimized errors and aberrant behavior in visual discrimination tasks but not in perceptual motor tasks. It was conceptualized that aberrant behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement contingencies. Difficult tasks were aversive to the children, who emitted aberrant responses to escape or avoid such tasks. By contrast, conditions in which no demands were made, easy tasks, and, in visual discrimination learning, errorless tasks, were less aversive and resulted in little or no problem behavior. Implications for reducing maladaptive behaviors through curricular modifications are discussed and contrasted to more traditional consequence manipulation approaches.

Array properties and conservation of number performance with retarded adolescents and young adults.

A group of 31 institutionalized retarded adolescents responded to 18 conservation of number tasks. Within the range of each row containing 4 to 6 items, there was no significant effect on performance with variations in the total number of items or the numerical difference between rows. Unexpectedly, pre- and posttransformed arrays did not cause significant differences in judgment errors. When significant differences (p less than .01) did appear between transformed and untransformed arrays, it seemed to be due to a one-to-one correspondence existing in one of the arrays and not in the effect of a transformation. The optimal performance under one-to-one correspondence conditions and the observed, orderly decrease in correct responding was explained as a function of the number of contradictions in the stimulus array. The explanation of judgment errors being caused by contradictions between numerosity and length and/or density cues was interpreted within Brainerd's (1973a, 1973b) theory of the development of early number concepts.

Paired-associate learning and formal thinking in adolescence.

The development of paired-associate (PA) learning and formal thinking during adolescence was investigated with 78 sixth and tenth grade students. Group-administered tests of formal and divergent thinking were given in the tracked, classroom setting. The augmented PA treatment provided, and the minimal PA treatment did not provide, verbal and pictorial prompts. The percentages of children showing formal thinking increased and converged to the 40% mark for both high and average achievers. While the augmented treatment scores were significantly better than the minimal treatment ones, the evidence was ambiguous concerning whether there was a developmental improvement in spontaneous elaboration skills for high achievers. The hypothesis predicting PA learning to be positively related to divergent thinking, and negatively related to formal thinking, was not supported.